“When John said he wanted to help me return the Broncos to where we used to be in the Super Bowl years, I said, ‘Come on, let’s do it together,’ ” Bowlen told me as he continued up — physically and metaphorically. “We’ll make it happen. No more 4-12.

“I’m glad John’s back.”

Bowlen and Elway, first united as owner and quarterback in March of 1984, were reunited Wednesday as owner and executive vice president of football operations.

Seven days shy of the 24th anniversary of The Drive, No. 7 started one more drive, plunged in a deeper hole this time.

On Jan. 11, 1987, in the AFC championship in Cleveland, with the Broncos behind 20-13 with 5:32 left and the ball on their 2-yard line, Elway set the huddle, and guard Keith Bishop said: “We got ’em right where we want ’em.”

Elway drove the Broncos 98 yards to tie the game with 37 seconds to go — and drove them again in overtime to the winning field goal. The Broncos were in the Super Bowl.

Ol’ No. 7 could have used some encouraging words Wednesday from Bishop, who serves as a special agent for the DEA in Afghanistan.

After the most dreadful, disgusting season in team history, Elway again leads the Broncos, but they don’t have ’em right where they want ’em. This drive is more difficult.

“I bleed Broncos orange,” Elway told me.

Indeed, the Broncos are bleeding.

On the night of Dec. 6, the day coach Josh McDaniels was fired, Elway and Bowlen had dinner at, appropriately, Elway’s restaurant in Cherry Creek. While the two and their wives shared stories and champagne, Bowlen said to Elway: “We’ve won together before, and we will win together again.”

A reconstruction plan was begun.

Bowlen bought the Broncos a year after Elway joined the team his rookie season, and the two were together for 15 super seasons.

The Broncos played in five Super Bowls (the first a result of The Drive) and won the last two in 1997-98. During that span, the Broncos won a league-high 162 regular-season and postseason games (a winning percentage of 64 percent and double-digit victories nine seasons), made the playoffs nine years under three coaches and had a 14-7 postseason record, and played for the AFC title six times, finished first in the AFC West seven times and were the best fourth-quarter comeback team in the NFL.

And the Broncos bounced back from seasons of 5-11 to 12-4, 6-8 to 11-5 and 8-8 to 13-3.

Elway retired as a player on top of the NFL as the MVP in the Super Bowl. He unretires as an executive with the Broncos at the bottom of the league.

Without Elway for a dozen years, the Broncos had an 83-89 record, with only one first-place finish in the division and a 1-4 record in playoff games (one AFC championship defeat in 2005).

Despite being gone, Elway remained the face of the Broncos. On Wednesday he also became the voice of the franchise and the leader of the football team.

Bowlen, who will be 67 next month, will assume an even lower profile than he’s maintained since the hiring of McDaniels in January, 2009. His reputation in Denver and around the league has taken a major hit; it was wondered if he had control of the Broncos any longer, and there were cries for the owner to sell the team. But Bowlen always asserted he “will die owning the Broncos. This is my only job, my passion, my life.” Bowlen has slowed down, somewhat — and isn’t as active as the days when he competed in Hawaii’s Ironman Triathlon. He is letting Elway run the show now, and spoke publicly Wednesday for the first time in almost a year.

“I can’t think of a better guy,” to run the football side of the organization, Bowlen said. “I look forward to great things in the future. I think John will return this team to a high level of competition. I think we will win more Super Bowls.”

After talking for just two minutes, then sitting through Elway’s one-hour news conference, Bowlen left the room, walked quickly down the hallway at Dove Valley and turned to ascend to his second-floor office. I chased through the crowd, caught up with him on the stairs and congratulated him on the return of Elway and the return of excitement and energy at the Broncos’ headquarters.

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